By Dora Fichter, Esq; Program Committee Member, Gateway Alliance against Human Trafficking
Bulgaria is a small southeast European country with population slightly less than 7 million and territory similar to that of the state of Tennessee. During the Cold War, Bulgaria was a part of the Warsaw Pact and experienced political instability and economic challenges following the fall of communism. The country joined NATO in 2004 and the European Union (EU) in 2007, but it remains one of the poorest countries in the EU with poverty rate of 20.6%. Due to its geographical location and socioeconomic factors, Bulgaria is one of the primary sources of human trafficking in Europe. Victims are typically Bulgarians with low income, children in residential care, and members of the Roma communities. Migrants from Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq who are crossing Bulgaria to go to Western Europe and Ukrainian refugees are at high risk for human trafficking, but their limited stay in the country makes it difficult to detect the crime.
The Bulgarian criminal code prohibits the recruitment, transportation, harboring, or receiving a person or a group of people for the purpose of sexual exploitation, forced labor, involuntary servitude, begging, or depriving them of a bodily organ, tissue, cell, or bodily fluid. Most cases involve sexual exploitation, but forced begging and forced criminality are also common. This form of exploitation typically involves victims from the Roma communities. Victims are forced to beg and to give their earnings to the traffickers. Because people generally give beggars with disabilities more money, some traffickers resort to physical violence to disfigure the victims and cause more sympathy.
The Bulgarian criminal code has a separate provision prohibiting the trafficking of a pregnant woman for the purpose of selling the baby. This form of human trafficking was more common prior to 2020, and it affects primarily women from the Roma communities. Roma women were trafficked to Greece through the border accompanied by a member of a criminal group. Although in a few cases women agreed to participate voluntarily, in the vast majority of cases the women were forced to sell their babies through debt bondage or other forms of coercion. Women who consent to the sale of their child face imprisonment up to six years and a fine. With increased preventive efforts in the Roma communities and raised awareness on the part of law enforcement, this form of human trafficking has decreased significantly in the last few years.
Because of the distinct pattern of human-trafficking crimes, the Bulgarian law differentiates between human trafficking committed within the territory of the country and crimes crossing the border. The cross-border crimes carry a harsher sentence. The main destination countries for cross-border crimes are Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Austria, France, and the United Kingdom. In terms of internal trafficking, the most common areas for exploitation are the Black Sea coast and the larger cities, with labor trafficking taking place mostly in the agricultural business and the hospitality business.
The consent of the victim is not a defense to human trafficking under the Bulgarian law. The criminal code also excludes criminal responsibility of victims who were forced to perform a criminal act in “direct relation” to being a victim. Crime victims, including human-trafficking victims, are a party in the criminal case, and they are represented by an attorney. The Bulgarian law grants the right to legal assistance to victims as soon as they are identified as such. The Law on Legal Aid gives access to state-funded legal representation and consultation before the commencement of legal proceedings or the filing of a case, representation in legal proceedings, and representation in case of detention.
The sentencing range for human trafficking crimes is two to eight years for crimes against adults, and three to ten years for crimes against minors. This sentencing range is compatible with other jurisdictions, but under the Bulgarian law, sentences of less than three years can be suspended. As a result, many cases result in a suspended sentence. In 2023, law enforcement investigated 52 trafficking cases resulting in 39 convictions. Nineteen convictions resulted in custodial sentences and twenty sentences were suspended. The suspended sentences have an impact on victims who may choose not to cooperate and risk that the perpetrator would receive a suspended sentence. In addition, the criminal proceedings in Bulgaria can last for years, especially when organized criminal groups operate transnationally, making it unlikely for victims to cooperate.
The Bulgarian government makes a continuous effort to improve its work in combating human trafficking. The prevalence of cross-border crimes made building partnerships on the international level a priority. Bulgarian law enforcement agencies regularly participate in joint investigations with law enforcement agencies from other countries, and they partner with the neighboring countries to identify cases of human trafficking at the border. In 2023, Bulgaria created a national task force to coordinate the interagency response to combat trafficking of refugees.
Because the methods of recruitment of human trafficking victims are constantly evolving and new forms of exploitation develop through the use of new technology, the Bulgarian government conducted a comprehensive analysis of the new trends in 2022 and identified goals for improvement. These goals are in line with a new EU directive issued in 2024, which requires its members to include in their domestic law provisions defining the exploitation of surrogacy, forced marriage, and illegal adoption as human trafficking. The directive further required the countries to make the use of internet, smartphones, and computers an aggravating circumstance when it is used for sexual exploitation. As a member state, Bulgaria must implement these provisions in its domestic legislation by July 15, 2026.
FN. Dora Fichter gratefully acknowledges financial support for her professional project on human trafficking in Bulgaria by the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and Fulbright Bulgaria. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Fulbright Program, the Government of the United States, or Fulbright Bulgaria.
Sources:
Bulgarian Criminal Code (SG No. 26/1968, amended July 8, 2022), available at https://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/legislation/details/21816
US Department of State: 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report: Bulgaria.https://www.state.gov/reports/2024-trafficking-in-persons-report/bulgaria/
GRETA (Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings), Reply from Bulgaria to the Questionnaire GRETA(2023) for the evaluation of the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. https://rm.coe.int/reply-from-bulgaria-to-the-questionnaire-for-the-evaluation-of-the-imp/1680b18f6b
European Commission, Migration and Home Affairs, Bulgaria: General information: situation on trafficking in human beings https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/policies/internal-security/organised-crime-and-human-trafficking/together-against-trafficking-human-beings/eu-countries/bulgaria_en
World Bank Group, Europe 7 Central Asia, Poverty & Equity Brief: Bulgaria, April 2024.https://datacatalogfiles.worldbank.org/ddh-published/0064942/DR0092383/Global_POVEQ_BGR.pdf?versionId=2024-08-12T13:19:27.0220520Z
https://antitraffic.government.bg/en/about (In Bulgarian only).